ED-FPX5300C - Kristina Crivellone To provide students with the most impactful curriculum, teacher...

1. What do teachers need to collaborate effectively in curriculum design?

1.1. Both inter- and intra-personal skills are integral in effective and collaborative educators.

1.1.1. There are "a series of factors that are crucial within the collaborative process itself. These factors include face-to-face dialogue, trust building, and the development of commitment and shared understanding." (Ansell & Gash, 2008, p.539)

1.1.1.1. In my school, where collaboration is not a major tenet of the climate and culture for staff, meeting time is often cancelled or handled presentation style. Collaboration is not fostered by leadership in this way.

1.2. Effective collaboration requires time, and structure.

1.2.1. Time for collaboration is a major barrier for educators.

1.2.1.1. " In an effort to support professional collaboration, the teachers' school district established an "early out" day once a week to allow teachers time to collaborate. However, the teachers in the present study reported that it was difficult to find time to collaborate. They stated that faculty meetings were often scheduled during their collaboration time, and it was challenging to schedule time to meet. This is consistent with what other researchers have reported. Teachers do not have enough time to collaborate, and they need administrative support to help them resolve time issues (Kamens et al., 2003; Klinger & Vaughn, 2002; Trent et al., 2003). Scheduling time to collaborate can be especially challenging for special education teachers because many of their students are in different classes and the special education teachers have to coordinate schedules with several different teachers." (Carter et al., 2-009, n.p)

1.2.1.2. In my district, all grade-level meetings end up being led meetings by either a coach, or committee lead, and are more like data team meetings than periods for collaboration.

1.2.1.3. I find effective collaboration invigorating, but since it is not treated as a standard of practice by my leadership, I can only engage by using my personal time, which is very little, given the rate of pay requires me to have three jobs.

1.2.2. Educational leaders need to facilitate collaboration in design.

1.2.2.1. Are leaders equipped with this skillset?

1.2.2.2. "Regardless of the collaborative structure being used (e.g., one-on-one interactions, co-teaching, collaborative consultation), successful collaboration requires planning time, effort, and administrative support. Several studies have reported that when collaboration is structured (i.e., specific procedures and models are used to guide collaborative interactions) and supported by school administrations, educational outcomes improve for students with disabilities (Amato, 1996; Burnstein, Sears, Wilcoxen, Cabello, & Spagna, 2004; Hunt, Soto, Maier, & Doering, 2003; Marston, 1996)." (Carter et al., 2009, n.p.)

1.2.3. "Unfortunately, not all schools implement practices that support teacher collaboration or provide structure for collaborative processes. As a result, teachers have reported problems associated with collaborating. Teachers have reported that they lack training on how to adapt instruction for students with disabilities, do not have enough time for collaboration, encounter philosophical differences that impede collaborative processes, and lack support for collaboration from their school administration (Edmunds, 2000; Heflin & Bullock, 1999; Kamens, Loprete, & Slostad; 2003; Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1996; Stockall & Gartin, 2002; Trent, 1998)." (Carter et al., 2009, n.p.)

2. Who will the teachers be collaborating with?

2.1. Peers

2.2. Students

2.2.1. Collaborative Curriculum Design (CCD) has been shown in research to improve student engagement and achievement-- it can only occur when there is flexibility in the design and implementation of curricula at the most local level, the school.

2.2.1.1. CCD not only allows students to be actively involved in initial course design but also empowers them to make decisions about class structure throughout the term. (Aiken, et al., 2016, p. 57)

2.2.1.2. Research in the services marketing literature supports the notion that control and participation generally lead to positive outcomes. For example, the sense of control from participation has been shown to increase evaluations of an experience (Langer & Saegert, 1977). Even increasing perceived control has been shown to enhance the value of services as well as raise ratings of service quality (Dabholkar, 1996). Thus, including students in an environment of co-production of the educational experience should result in similar positive outcomes. Active participation by students (as opposed to passive listening) significantly increases measures of learning (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991). (Aiken, et al., 2016, p. 57)

3. REFERENCES

4. The "most local level" would mean the curriculum design is occuring in individual schools.

4.1. "Building ownership requires not just identifying and taking care of the educational impact, but also reflecting on the impact at many levels and, indeed, as something constructed in interrelations between levels. This requires sufficient variety in those who are involved in the process; testing the ‘big ideas’ with those who work at the grassroots level of schools." (Pietarinen et al., 2017, p. 20)

4.2. "A curriculum reform implementation strategy that involves stakeholders utilises the understanding and experiences of the participants, and exercises transparent and participatory leadership, such as developing structures to foster participation and optimal use of expertise among stakeholders, is key for building curriculum coherence." (Pietarinen et al., 2017, p. 35)

5. Teacher engagement in developing the curriculum that they will be implementing will create ownership.

5.1. Stenhouse

5.1.1. "Lawrence Stenhouse's work in curriculum development and research was guided by the belief that **"the virtue of humanity is diminished in man when judgement is overruled by authority".** He defined the "most civilized state" as the one whose "citizens are successfully trusted with the responsibility of judgement." He aspired to this responsibility both for the teacher and for students in schools" (Rudduck, 1988, p.30)

5.1.2. "Lawrence Stenhouse was one of the most distinguished, original and influential educationalists of his generation. Although he died in 1982 his work on curriculum, pedagogy and educational research can still be traced into the twenty-first century and continues to be a counterbalance to instrumental and technocratic thinking in education." (Elliot & Norris, 2012, p.1)

6. Why is collaboration in curricular design important?

6.1. Collaboration is key in every educational endeavor.

6.2. Effective curriculum design must balance the goals for learning, concepts about best practice, and the realities of implementation/instruction.

6.2.1. "According to Stenhouse (1975), what is essential for curriculum study is not only discourse about what needs to be taught and learned, but also (and primarily) developing an understanding of the relationship between curriculum as intention and as reality." (Pieters et al., 2019, p.5)

7. Who?

7.1. **These teachers are the "boots on the ground".** "History shows that the intentions and ambitions of many curriculum innovations failed because the complexity of the design and implementation processes was often overlooked. Lack of teacher involvement in curriculum design processes is seen as an important cause for these disappointing outcomes." (Pieters et al., 2019, p.2)

7.1.1. **Teachers understand the realities of implementation.** "Stenhouse’s argument is still relevant today. There is a need to better understanding how to realize sustainable implementation of curriculum innovations. Curriculum design, as an important subdomain of curriculum study, aims at bridging the gap between curriculum intentions and implementation. In other words, it is the study of how to make curriculum innovations work in practice. Curriculum design is an iterative process, in which knowledge about design procedures and knowledge about indicators of curriculum quality is intertwined with socio-political interests and the realities of many different stakeholders, teachers in particular. Scholars increasingly agree that the process of curriculum design needs to be understood as a process of systemic change (Fullan, 2008; Van den Akker, 2003). From this perspective curriculum is far more than a simple plan for learning. Curriculum is a social cultural practice, which meaning progresses through the active involvement of teachers and other stakeholders in design - and action research." (Pieters, Vooght & Roblin, 2019, p.)

7.1.2. Teachers understand the needs of stakeholders.

7.1.3. Teachers can be instruments and catalysts for dynamic stakeholder collaboration.

8. Haven't teachers always written curriculum?

8.1. Pre-written curricula

8.1.1. **Impersonal. Doesn't addres each community's unique needs. **

8.2. District curriculum writing teams

8.2.1. A number of teachers may participate, bu may not be suffieicnt to represent the needs of sub-groups in diverse communities.